It’s bubble time for both Gopher basketball teams, but one is the NCAA Tournament while the other is just the Big Ten Tournament
We take another look into our Weekly Rankings Round-up. Both Gopher hockey teams made life easier for themselves with big sweeps last weekend, while both Gopher basketball teams did just the opposite. Both are sitting perilously on different bubbles—one just to try and make the Big Ten Tournament, while the other still has NCAA Tournament aspirations. Add in a pair more Big Ten Championships this week in the pool and on the track and it’s definitely a busy time of year. All rankings are as of February 26th.
Men’s Hockey:
It was a huge weekend for the Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s hockey team in their regular season home finale. The Gophers swept #6/7 Ohio State 4-1 on Friday and 6-3 on Saturday clinching at least second place in the Big Ten standings. Minnesota currently is in first place in the conference after Penn State went into East Lansing and took five of a possible six points from Michigan State last weekend. Minnesota has 46 points, two ahead of the Spartans and six clear of Ohio State. The Big Ten regular season champion earns a First Round Bye in the Big Ten Tournament.
If the Gophers can hang on for the title, they will deserve it. While Michigan State closes out the season at last place Notre Dame, the Gophers need to head to the hottest team in the nation in Penn State. The Nittany Lions have gone 9-1-2 over their past 12 games and currently sit one point back of Michigan in the battle for the final home ice spot in the Big Ten Tournament. They also currently sit just on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble at #15. Thus, the Nittany Lions have a ton to play for this weekend and wll give the Gophers everything they have.
After their big sweep of the Buckeyes and former #1 Michigan State getting swept by Penn State, the Gophers jumped up to #2 in both national polls this week. Minnesota trails just Boston College as teams head into the final week of the regular season.
The pairwise rankings are the rankings that are used to fill out the NCAA Tournament field. Sixteen teams make the NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament with each conference tournament winner receiving an automatic bid. Thus, you want to make sure you rank #13 or higher to really feel same about making the tournament. Minnesota still remains at #3 in the pairwise but has closed the gap between them and #2 Michigan State to half of what it was. They extended their lead over #4 Maine to nearly one tenth of a point, which is relatively huge. Minnesota likely can lock down a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament with at least a split over the Nittany Lions this weekend.
Women’s Hockey:
The Golden Gophers took care of business in their regular season finale last weekend sweeping #6 Minnesota-Duluth 3-2 on Friday and a 1-0 shutout on Saturday. Friday’s win clinched the #3 seed in the WCHA Playoffs for the Gophers, and they had a chance to try and earn the #2 seed on Saturday, but a late Ohio State goal earned them a win over St. Cloud State and second place.
Third seeded Minnesota will host #6 seed Minnesota State in a Best-of-three WCHA First Round Series this weekend at Ridder Arena. The winner will advance to the WCHA frozen Faceoff which moves to Duluth this season.
The Gophers remain ranked #4 in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey Poll, headed into the postseason. Minnesota trails Wisconsin, Ohio State and ECAC Regular Season Champion Cornell.
Minnesota did leap back to #3 in the pairwise rankings with their sweep of the #6 ranked Bulldogs and Cornell being idle. In the Women’s NCAA Tournament 11 teams make the field with five conference champions earning automatic bids. Thus, to feel comfortable, you want to make sure you are in the top 8 or so at the end of the season. The Top four seeds will host NCAA Quarterfinals, so it’s definitely a plus to be in that spot. Minnesota ideally would like to stay ranked #4 or higher as the top four seeds will host NCAA Quarterfinals in two weeks on their home ice. As long as the Gophers don’t slip up this weekend against Minnesota State, they likely will not drop far in the rankings with a loss to either the #2 Buckeyes or #1 Badgers in the Final Faceoff.
Men’s Basketball:
What a difference a weekend can make—part 2. After the Gophers big sweep in California, things were looking up. Then Minnesota came home and lost to two of the worst teams in the conference in Penn State and Northwestern. The Gophers went from being a game out of a potential first round bye in the Big Ten Tournament to clinging to dear life to even qualify. Only the top 15 teams in the Big Ten make t2e Big Ten Tournament and as of Wednesday night the Gophers are tied for 14th place with Iowa and Northwestern at 6-11. The Gophers have road games against Nebraska and Rutgers and a home game against Wisconsin left in the regular season. Minnesota most likely need to go at minimum 1-2 to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament, and may need to go 2-1. Not great.
Minnesota is obviously not ranked in ant of the national polls.
In the NET rankings which helps the NCAA selection Committee form the NCAA Tournament field, as of Tuesday afternoon the Gophers dropped back to 96 after their losses over the past week. They are 17th in the Big Ten with just Washington lower.
Women’s Basketball:
The Minnesota Gophers women’s basketball team put themselves squarely back on the NCAA Tournament bubble by losing on Wednesday night to Washington in their home finale 72-62. The loss drops the Gophers to 8-9 in the Big Ten tied with the Huskies for 12th place. Minnesota has just one game remaining at Michigan State on Saturday afternoon.
If the Big Ten Tournament started today, the Gophers would be the #13 seed and would rematch #12 seed Washington in the opening round next Wednesday night.
Minnesota has dropped out of both national polls and are no longer receiving votes.
In the NET rankings, the Gophers currently sit at #32 in the nation, though that does not take into consideration the Gophers loss on Wednesday night. In the most recent bracketology, again prior to the Washington loss, the Gophers were one of the last 5 teams in the field in ESPN’s predictions, and were not in the last four in in the NCAA.com bracket. But, Washington was in the last four in in both brackets, so if they would flip with the Gophers, that would but Minnesota squarely on the bubble headed into the Big Ten Tournament.
Wrestling:
The Gopher wrestling team continues to rest and practice for another week as they do not return to action until the Big Ten Tournament March 8-9 in Evanston, Illinois
Minnesota remains ranked #6 in the nation in the NWCA coaches poll, FloWrestling and Intermat dual rankings.
Minnesota has all 10 wrestlers ranked in both the Intermat and Flo Wrestling individual weight class rankings. They are listed below with Intermat first.
125 lbs: Cooper Flynn #16/16
133 lbs: Tyler Wells #19/12
141 lbs: Vance Vombaur #8/8
149 lbs: Drew Roberts #32/25
157 lbs Tommy Askey #8/8
165 lbs Andrew Sparks #11/15
174 lbs Clayton Whiting #23/21
184 lbs Max McEnelly #4/4
197 lbs Isaiah Salazar #8/9
Heavyweight Gable Steveson #1/1
Gymnastics:
The Gophers gymnastics made it back to back wins with a 197.075-196.500 over #20 Nebraska at the Pav last Saturday. Minnesota’s 49.425 on bars was a season-best total and the team’s highest score on the event since the regional finals in 2024.
The Gophers remain in a tie for second place in the Big Ten at 5-1 on the season. The Gophers are tied with Michigan State and are just behind 6-0 UCLA.
Minnesota remains at #13 in the nation in the Road to Nationals rankings this week. The Gophers moved slightly in all four events dropping from #8 to #9 on vault, jumping up to #17 from #20 on bars, sliding down just one spot from #11 to #12 on beam andremaining steady at #10 on floor.
Minnesota heads to their grouping of the Big 4 Meet this Saturday which will take place in College Park, Maryland. The Gophers will face off in a quad-meet against the host Maryland Terrapins, #15 Michigan Wolverines, and the #24 ranked Illinois Fighting Illini with the results contributing to the Big Ten standings. The meet will begin at 5 PM Saturday and will air live on the Big Ten Network.
Swim and Dive:
In the most recent national polls from the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) both Gopher teams sit at #24 in the nation.
The Gopher women competed at the Big Ten Championships last weekend in Columbus and finished in sixth place as a team.
The Gopher men will host the Big Ten Championships this week at the Jean K Freeman Aquatic Facility.
Indoor Track and Field:
The Gopher women indoor track and field team jumped back up the rankings this week as they head into the Big Ten Championships. The Gophers are ranked #22 as a team in the most recent USTFCCCA National Rankings, up from #46 a week ago.
The Gopher are ranked in the top 20 of the nation in four different events in the USTFCCCA Event Squad rankings. Minnesota is ranked #3 in the nation in the weight throw, #6 in the 60 meter hurdles, #9 in the 5000 meters, #15 in the high jump and are just out of the top-20 at #21 in the shot put.
Individually the Gophers have three athletes ranked in the Top 20 in their individual events so far this season. Anthonett Nabwe leads the way for the Gophers. The defending Big Ten weight throw champion threw her best throw of the season last weekend with a distance of 23.56 meters to take over the longest throw in the nation this season. She also has the 20th best shot put throw in the country this spring with a distance of 17.23 meters. Joining Nabwe in the weight throw rankings is redshirt sophomore Hadley Streit who is now ranked 13th with a throw of 22.12m.
Minnesota is headed to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend. Events begin Friday morning.
Women’s Golf:
The Gopher women’s golf team dropped from #50 to #54 in the country in the latest Scorecard national rankings. The Gophers are coming off of an 8th place finish a the Westbrook Invitational in Arizona earlier this week. Individually Gopher junior Bella McCauley dropped from #39 in the nation to #50 this week after ending her tournament with an +8 80 on Monday.